Men's Tennis Finishes Up at ITA Regionals

Thursday, October 15

Hanover, N.H.

All Day

Columbia University

ITA Regional Championships

Men?s Tennis Notches First Win of 2011 Over Boston College

10/20/2009 5:30:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Columbia University Athletics

NEW YORK – Sophomore Haig Schneiderman advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Regionals in Hanover, N.H. this weekend, but fell there, marking the end of Columbia's run at the event. Columbia saw several opportunities at the annual event, which was hosted by Dartmouth, but the Lions couldn't finish, and completed the event without advancing a player to the national competition.

Senior captain Jonathan Wong beat Gary Kushirovich of Army, in his first round match, 6-2, 6-1, but then lost to Daniel Freeman of host Dartmouth, 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. Rajeev Deb-Sen also won his first round match against Krik Kreutzer of Boston College, 6-4, 6-3, before falling to Andy Nguyen of Harvard, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2. First-year Cyril Bucher was another Columbia player who fell after notching a first-round win: Bucher beat Donald VanVelzer of Army, 7-5, 7-6(6), before he fell to Milo Hauk of St. John's, 1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Senior Mihai Nichifor was seeded third in the tournament, and won four of his matches, before falling in the quarterfinals. After a first round bye, Nichifor beat Alexandrew Haggai of Binghampton, 7-6(4), 6-2. Up next was Christian Schultz of Harvard, whom Nichifor downed 6-4, 7-6(4). Calvin Bennett of Yale also suffered a loss to the senior, 6-3, 6-3, before Nichifor was to be undone. In the end, it was Marc Powers of Yale who ended the run, as he took a 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 win.

Powers would also prove to be the undoing of an impressive run by sophomore Schneiderman. A No.17 seed coming in, Schneiderman had a first round bye. He opened his tournament play with a 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Evan Bernstein of Cornell. Up next, Schneiderman upset the No.2 seed, Eugen Brazdil of Penn, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Next to fall was Yale's John Huang, who rallied in the second set, but couldn't keep it together, losing 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4. Schneiderman up-ended Marist's Loic Sezzagesimi in the quarterfinals to advance, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. But in the semifinals, Powers of Yale ended the tournament of yet another Columbia player, winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

In doubles action, Nathaniel Gery and Nichifor (the tournament's No.10 seed) were upset in first round by Daniel Freeman and Michael Laser of Dartmouth, 9-8(3). Deb-Sen and Kevin Kung had a good streak as a pair at this event. First, they beat Jon Epstein and Macime Sztabholz of Stony Brook, 8-4, and then fell Halvar Dil and Mitch Wong of Stony Brook, 8-1. But their run would end in the round of 16, as they lost to No.7 seed Alexei Chijoff-Evans and Christian Schultz, 8-4.

Schneiderman and Wong earned a No.4 seed and a first-round bye coming into the tournament. The duo was able to notch two wins before Yale once again ended the run. In the second round, the pair beat Mike Hill and Andrew Yazmer of Brown in a close match, 9-8(5). Their next match-up wasn't quite as close, as they downed Evan Algier and Alexandre Haggai of Binghampton 8-5. In the quarterfinals, it was once again Powers who proved to be too much for the Lions, as he and partner Connor Dawson beat Wong and Schneiderman, 8-6 to advance.